Parsley is flavorful, aromatic, and an asset to any dish that you might want to make. But if you grow your own herbs, you know how much goes wasted as you just don’t have enough meals to use it all. So much is thrown away or left to go bad, but no more - you can freeze your parsley.
That’s right, we have a way to freeze your parsley so that you can continue growing it and using it in every dish that you make. In fact, you can use our method to freeze any herb that you have a surplus of, so soon your freezer will be full of herbs!
Below we’re going to let you into two methods of how to freeze your parsley as well as how to defrost it before using. There are also some factors to consider before you freeze your parsley, though, so don’t be too hasty just yet.
How To Freeze Parsley
As promised, here are two methods of how to freeze your parsley. For both methods, you’ll need to wash the parsley leaves and dab them dry with a paper towel. The first method is using a freezer bag to house your parsley. For this method, you can either freeze the whole leaves of the herb or you can chop it up beforehand.
Which option you choose will depend on how you’re planning to use the parsley in the future. Some people prefer to use whole leaves while others like finely chopped parsley. Whichever option you like more, prepare it before putting the herb into a freezer bag.
Squeeze as much air out of the freezer bag as possible and put the parsley into the freezer. The second option is to freeze the herb in ice cubes. Chop the parsley up and blend it with water and oil until you get a thick puree.
Freeze the puree in some ice cube trays for a few hours before moving them to a freezer bag. These frozen cubes are amazing in soups and stews that could do with an added burst of flavor. This takes some of the prep work out of your cooking and gives your dish a new lease on life.
If you’ve never tried the latter option, we highly recommend it! But if you were just wanting to freeze parsley in its natural form, the first method is the one for you.
How To Defrost Parsley
Parsley can be used in many dishes without being defrosted. In many cases, in fact, people find that frozen parsley works best when the appearance of the dish doesn’t matter too much. As the herb is so thin, it will defrost in seconds of touching anything hot, releasing intense flavor into your food.
However, if you’re set on defrosting your parsley before using it in your dishes, you can leave it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. As parsley is so thin it does not take much time at all to defrost.
As we mentioned before, the cubes of frozen puree can be placed right into your pot of soup or stew. It will quickly melt and surround your food with an aromatic flavor. Again, there is the option to defrost this in the refrigerator, although we don’t know why you’d want to.
Defrosting the frozen cubes in the refrigerator might take some more time than if it were just parsley, but leaving them overnight will definitely be enough time for the puree to defrost, ready for your cooking session the next day.
Parsley can be stored in the freezer for up to four to six months after you’ve harvested it, so there is no real rush to use it! Oil can last up to two years in the freezer as well, so there is no urgency that comes along with the pureed cubes either.
Factors to Consider Before Freezing Parsley
Okay, so we’ve been raving about how great parsley is to freeze and everyone should do it. But there are a few considerations to think about beforehand that we haven’t mentioned yet. The first is frozen parsley is not good for garnishing your dishes with.
While it’s an excellent burst of flavor in your food, defrosted parsley looks like a mushy mess. The color changes and gets darker, the leaves will no longer be crisp, and the texture is nothing like fresh parsley.
If anything, it will put people off your food! So definitely don’t use your frozen parsley for garnish unless you want to be disappointed. The flavor of your parsley doesn’t change when you freeze it, but some people love the texture of herbs as well.
Another factor to consider is that you need to prepare your parsley in the correct way before freezing it. As we’ve just mentioned, defrosted parsley is very mushy and soft, and it won’t be good to chop up at all.
So, if you prefer using chopped parsley over full leaves, make sure that you chop it before freezing. This will save you a lot of time and hassle in the long run, believe us! To get the most out of your parsley, we would suggest using a mixture of the two methods of freezing the herb.
Doing this allows you to have perfect parsley solutions for any dish imaginable. If you only use the ice cube method you will be out of luck when you want to add some chopped parsley to a meat dish!
Summary
The short answer to your question is yes, you can freeze parsley. There are a few ways to freeze the herb, including a freezer bag and an ice cube tray. Freezing parsley is excellent for adding flavor into your dishes, but not so much for presentation purposes. Stick to the fresh parsley for this task!
Defrosting parsley is completely unnecessary as you can simply add frozen parsley into any dish and the herb will defrost within minutes. Freezing your herbs is a great way to ensure that none of your herbs go to waste!